The Importance of Intergenerational Church

written by April 3, 2012

There’s been a growing trend in youth ministry circles about the need to develop a more intergenerational approach in ministering to teenagers. And while some of the conversation has pointed an unfair finger at youth ministry, and has been a bit extreme in tone, the idea of intergenerational ministry is totally valid.

So we thought we’d throw our voices into the discussion this week in the Simply Youth Ministry Today, hoping to push the discussion of intergenerational church forward a little bit. Here are a few reasons why some form of intergenerational ministry is worth considering:

It removes the temptation of “church within a church.”
A completely segregated youth ministry has to constantly battle the “church within a church” battle—a teenager might be having a completely different experience then their parents week in and week out—so when youth group is gone they feel little or no connection to the actual “church.”

It makes the transition to “big church” much easier.
The handoff from any ministry to the next is always difficult; developing some forms of intergenerational worship will help ease students’ transition to the adult service environment. It will be less of a leap and more of a step.

It could help reduce the number of students leaving the faith after high school.
This is the primary driving force behind intergenerational ministry. When teenagers feel like they’re part of the whole church body “all along,” it’s less likely they’ll wander than if they’re expected to feel like part of the church body “all of a sudden” when they graduate youth group.